Seekers Love Kids
by MoreThanMeetsTheEye231
Summary: Mackenzie had a boring life. When Decepticons landed on her street, she saw her ticket to adventure and took it. She ended up becoming something no one expected; a pet!
1. Meet Mackenzie

Adventure. Something my life was completely devoid of. I kept thinking about the thing I wanted so badly but could never have. Then, one day, I got more than I could handle.

* * *

><p>"Mackenzie!" dad called. I sighed, but dropped what I was doing. I walked through the kitchen, grabbing the tourniquet and syringe as I passed. I walked into mom and dad's room. Dad already had his head under the bed, looking for his acid. While he was rummaging, I looked around the room.<p>

It was as messy as ever. Dad made it messy, and no one ever cleaned. There were broken tourniquets and empty beer cans littering the floor. Mom's bottle of birth control pills was on her bedside table. Her side of the bed was empty and unmade. She wasn't back from "work" yet.

Dad finally pulled out a vial. I took the syringe and filled it with the liquid in the vial. Dad put on the tourniquet. I gently inserted the needle into his fatty forearm. I felt him relax as I pressed the plunger down.

Dad fell back with a stupid grin on his face, happy with his high. I removed the needle and tourniquet and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind me. I went back to the kitchen and cleaned out the syringe. It was a time-consuming process. I had to use bleach and everything to make sure there were no traces of dad's acid left to find. I stowed the needle back in its place under the sink and walked back to my room.

I looked in the mirror at myself. I brushed my shoulder length brown hair away from my bright blue eyes. My bangs had an annoying habit of hanging down into my eyes. I stood back to look at my outfit. I wore a pastel blue dress. It was short sleeved and went down to the top of my knees. I wore black sneakers with white socks poking from the top. I wore my two favorite pieces of jewelry every day. One of those was the quartz crystal around my neck. A shiny gold wire wrapped around it in an artistic spiral and then hooked at the top for the silver chain. Dad had helped me make it on one of the rare occasions he was home. Mom had donated the chain for it. On my wrist was a rainbow friendship bracelet mom had made for me. She wore the one I made for her. I dressed like a girly-girl, but other than that I was pretty much a tomboy. Mostly anyways.

It was the middle of summer vacation. It was boring because all my friends were away on vacation and my parents were never home. Mom was either sleeping or at "working the corner", and dad was always asleep, at the bar, or working at his job on the assembly line.

I lay back on my bed and started at the ceiling. I started to daydream. _My life is so boring! When will I actually get to do something __besides__ go to school?_ I lay back and fantasized. I dozed off with visions of mansions with indoor pools in my head.

* * *

><p>I awoke a few hours later. I walked out into the kitchen to check the digital clock. Before I could do that, mom walked in. "Hey honey!" She called with a smile. Her bleached teeth were amplified by her bright red lipstick. She also wore mascara and heavy pink eyeshadow. She wore a short shirt, it showed her belly button and it showed a lot of cleavage. She wore short denim jeans and fishnets. She wore a black jacket as well. That was the only thing she wore that wasn't overly revealing. She removed her high heels and took her hair (dyed blonde with red streaks) out of its messed up ponytail. She had beautiful green eyes. "Hey mom!" I yelled as reply. I ran up to her and hugged her around her waist. Dad walked out of his room and gave her a kiss. "Hello dear." he said. He had mussed black hair. He needed to shave, he had stubble. He had a beer gut. He had dark brown eyes. He wore a loose red T-Shirt and torn jeans. One of his dirty socks had a hole in it. He carried a beer can.<p>

"How was your day?" I asked as we walked into the kitchen to start making lunch.

* * *

><p>Mom was in deep sleep. Such deep sleep that an earthquake wouldn't wake her. Literally. Dad was at the bar. I was basically home alone, as usual. I went to my room and started to work on a bracelet I was making. It involved 7 strings and was very complicated, so it was taking a while to complete. I had been working for about 10 minutes when I heard odd noises. I walked out into the street to see what it was.<p>

Standing before me were a bunch of robots, giant ones at that! One purple and yellow one was using a welding torch (I know power-tools thanks to dad) on another robot that had a red torso, white arms and thighs, blue forearms and hands and lower legs, and a black face and head. Red eyes stood out on its dark face. Looking again, they all had red eyes. The yellow and purple one wasn't even holding the torch. It was attached to its wrist where a hand belonged. The yellow and purple one was welding what looked like a plane wing attached to the black-faced robot's back.

I made all these observations from my hiding place within a bush, which I'd jumped into the second I laid eyes on the robots. They spoke in a language consisting of clicks, beeps, and whirrs that I don't think any human voice could ever duplicate. I listened to the mysterious babble with interest. I tried to read their expressions.

There was a gray one across the street that didn't look too happy. It had a black cylinder attached to its arm. It glared at the black-faced one with it's glowing red eyes. They seemed to be arguing. The gray one suddenly made a large step toward the black faced-one and brandished a shiny black fist in the black-faced one's face. The black-faced one instinctively took an equally large step back. His foot was so close I could reach out and touch it. The black-faced one put his other foot next to the one close to me after the yellow and purple one spoke in the babbling language. The yellow and purple stepped back up to the black-faced one. The yellow and purple one quickly finished after that and stepped away. The torch on its arm retracted and was replaced by a hand. _Cool!_ I mouthed.

I decided to myself known, these things were so cool I just _had_ to say hi! I stepped out of the bush and planned to touch the black-faced one's foot. But suddenly it started to twist in ways I didn't think possible and I got my dress snagged on a passing piece of metal. When I stopped I was tangled on some landing gear. I looked up and was met by the colorful bottom of a plane. _How awesome do these things get?_ I thought excitedly.

It took off and flew away. I tried to call to it, to let it know I was there, but the wind shoved my voice back into my throat. I kept my mouth and eyes closed the rest of the way to avoid the pain of the strong wind.

Starscream

_5 minutes previous..._

We were at a solar power plant making a successful raid. We quickly made 20 energon cubes. I urged the troops on. "Starscream, perhaps if you actually _helped_ instead of _nagged_ we might be out of here by now!" Megatron yelled at me. We were speaking in Cybertronian, naturally. Why downgrade ourselves to the insects' language? "Oh, so you can stand by and just stare off into space, but I can't encourage the troops?" I called back as I turned to face our leader. "_I_ am overseeing. _You_ are being lazy!" Megatron yelled, getting angry. "We'd have already had this mudball planet in the palm of our hands if I was in charge!" I retaliated. Bad idea. Megatron lunged forward and picked me up over his head. I flailed wildly as he sent me flying, straight into the stack of cubes. I rolled off the pile and one detonated as it landed on my wing.

"You doddering fool! Look what you did!" Megatron yelled at me. I rose from the ground and said "Well, maybe you shouldn't have _**thrown**_ **me**!" "Alert: Autobots approaching." Soundwave reported as Laserbeak flew back into Soundwave's chest compartment. "Get the cubes out of here and return to base!" Megatron called. Everyone loaded at least five cubes into their arms and took off. We left the area just as the first Autobots appeared. Through a storm of orange energy bullets, Megatron called "Better luck next time, Prime!"

As we flew off, I was having trouble staying up. Ever so slowly, I was sinking back to Earth. "Megatron! My wing is damaged!" I said over comm, forgetting to put it on a private channel. So everyone heard. Oh well. "Then shut up and walk!" he answered. "But I'm carrying energon cubes!" I pointed out. He wouldn't ditch me if I still had the cubes, right? He pondered a moment, and Soundwave knew exactly where he was going, so he said "All Decepticons: loaded to capacity. Starscream: necessary." Megatron growled aloud and called aloud "Decepticons, land." We quickly obeyed and ended up in a random human residential area. "Hook, give Starscream a field patch and make it quick." Megatron ordered. Hook dropped his load of cubes on the ground carefully and I did the same. He started to weld quickly. The heat made me wince.

"Thanks to your blunder, we risk the Autobots engaging us!" Megatron blamed. "_You're_ the one who threw me!" I yelled back. "You provoked me!" he yelled in reply. I groaned and rolled my optics skyward. "The Autobots will never fight in a residential area anyway. And even if they do, aren't we in a war? War involves fighting. Or did you forget that, oh mighty Megatron?" I said as I smirked at his angry expression. He stepped forward and brandished his fist in my face. "Do not test me." he said dangerously as I instinctively stepped back. "I thought I was supposed to be repairing you! Hold still!" Hook complained. I placed my ped that was still extended forward back next to my back ped to show that I'd cooperate. A few cycles later Hook stepped back satisfied. We grabbed our cubes and flew back to base.

* * *

><p>Once we were back at the Nemesis and underwater I transformed and stretched, grateful to be home. "Uh, Starscream..." Skywarp said to me. I turned around to look at him, annoyed at him delaying my return to my quarters. He merely pointed at my lower leg. I rolled my optics and looked. There, attached to my leg, was a human female. Judging by size, a young one at that. I bent down and picked her up by her cloth garments. "Looks like you picked up a pest." Megatron said, seeing my parasite. "Launch it out a torpedo tube." Megatron finished dismissively. "I wish to interrogate it first. See if it's of value." I said to his retreating form. "Waste you own time. I don't care what you do with the bug." he said without turing around. The human looked back and forth at whoever was speaking in obvious wonder. She didn't understand Cybertronian one iota.<p>

Still holding her by her cloth garments, I walked down the hall to the interrogation room. I hooked her up to the polygraph (a new addition to deal with humans). She sat on the table and looked up to me in something between confusion and awe. "I'm going to ask you a few questions." I said to her in English. "So you _do_ speak!" she said happily." "What?" "Well before you just made weird noises..." "That was Cybertronian, thank you very much." _Weird noises indeed_. I thought, insulted. "Moving on. Designation?" I asked, datapad in hand to record. She just stared at me. I let a gust of air out of my vents and pinched my nasal bridge. "Name?" I asked again. She had a look that read "Oh!" and she replied "Mackenzie. Mackenzie Culmann." I quickly used the internet to search her name. Nothing. She was a nobody apparently. To make sure, I hacked the police records to find her. I found her parents were Peter and Susan Culmann. Also nobodies. "How did you get here?" I asked after my 15.39 nanoclik long internet research. "I wanted to say hi, but got caught on your landing gear when you were turning into a plane. You landed in front of my house." she answered. I nodded. "Do you know what an Autobot is?" I asked. "Auto-what-now?" "Apparently not." I checked the polygraph reading, 100% true.

I stood and turned to leave. _I guess TC and Warp get to shoot her out the torpedo tubes after all. _I thought as I walked away. "Excuse me, mister?" she called. "Hm?" I said as I turned around. "Can I stay?"


	2. First Day

Starscream

My optics bulged momentarily, and I was sure I heard her wrong. "Come again?" I said after a moment. "I want to stay." She said sheepishly. She looked down at her hands and started twiddling her thumbs as she continued. "I've always wanted a more exciting life, and it sure seems like it's pretty exciting here..." I stared at her. "You have no idea who we _are_ do you?" I asked of her, still unbelieving. "No. Another reason I want to stay. I want to learn who you are. Speaking of which, you know my name, but I don't know yours. What's your name?" She asked, looking up to meet my incredulous optics as she asked about my name. "Starscream." I answered.

"I need to talk to my leader about this. Stay here." I said as I walked out. I trotted through the halls of the Nemesis to find Megatron. Once I did I called "Megatron!" in Cybertronian from across the room. He was in the command room on his throne with a datapad in hand, as usual. "What now?" He asked, setting the datapad on his knee and rolling his optics as I walked up. "The human. It wants to stay!" I told him. He looked at me like I was crazy, then said "Who cares? Squish the stupid insect!" Soundwave overheard us and walked over to join the conversation. "Human: Has possibility of being valuable." He said to both of us. "I was thinking that if we studied humans, we'd be able to develop weapons to make eliminating them even easier than it already is. Besides, it won't run. What were you thinking, Soundwave?" I said. "If the human is trained, she could become a useful spy. A spy that Optimus Prime will never have the spark to destroy." Soundwave explained in his emotionless computer-like monotone. "Brilliant Soundwave! Starscream, see that she is raised properly." Megatron said. "What? Why me? And why not just start the training early?" I asked. "Trying to train her now would be as successful as training a youngling. And, you were the one who said you didn't want to kill her." Megatron answered. "I have duties that I cannot fulfill with a human along!" I pointed out. "Fine. Soundwave will set up shifts. Until then, you care for her." He said. He picked up his datapad again, signaling the end of the conversation.

I walked out of the room and headed back to the interrogation room. _I'm too important to be playing babysitter to a fleshling!_ I fumed. Once there I picked her up by her cloth garments again and walked across the Nemesis. I walked into Soundwave's quarters, not bothering to knock. He turned away from his computer screen, where the beginnings of a new schedule showed. He looked up at me from his chair and asked "What do you want?" in Cybertronian. "I'm _not_ taking care of it!" I replied. The human was looking from Soundwave to me and back again as we spoke. "Megatron ordered you-" Soundwave started. "Yes, yes! But I'm a higher ranking officer than you! I order you to take it!" I cut him off, thrusting the flesh creature in his face plates. I dropped her and Soundwave instinctively cupped his hands and caught her. I walked out of the room satisfied.

Rumble

Frenzy, Ravage, Ratbat, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and I walked into Soundwave's quarters. We walked in past Starscream, who was exiting looking pleased. Soundwave had his hands cupped and he was looking down at whatever was in his hands. He noticed us walk in. "You will be caring for her." He said in Cybertronian, setting a human down in front of us. She was female, and young looking. All the animal based Cassetteicons left. Leaving Frenzy and I with the human. "Seriously guys? Frag you all!" I called after the traitors. I looked at the human standing in front of us looking confused and awkward. "Isn't this the fleshy that was attached to Screamer's leg when we got back to base?" I asked (still in Cybertronian, causing the confused expression to stay plastered on the fleshy's face) as I jerked my thumb in her direction and raised an optic ridge (although that went unseen through my visor). "Yes. Point?" "Well, wasn't she supposed to be launched out of a torpedo tube? Thundercracker and Skywarp seemed pretty stoked about that." "Things changed. Now you'll take care of her. And more importantly entertain her. _Away_ from me." "But why us?" "I order you to. Simple as that." Soundwave turned back to his computer monitor, meaning the end of discussion.

I groaned and switched to english (much to the apparent relief of the human) as I said "Ok, 'cmon." We all exited the room. The human seemed happy. We started to meander through the halls with no real direction. "So, I'm Mackenzie. What are your names?" She asked as she stepped in front of us and walked backwards. "I'm Rumble." I said. "Frenzy." Frenzy stated shortly. "Nice to meet you. So, what're we gonna do?" she said as she tried to skip backwards. It worked but she looked stupid. "_Not_ going to the rec room. That's for sure." I said. We'd get laughed back to Cybertron and back. "Uhh... I dunno. Any ideas?" Frenzy asked. She stopped and thought a moment. We stopped too so that we were a few feet from her.

"Well, why don't we get to know each other a bit?" she suggested. "What?" I asked. "Chat!" She explained as she backed up to a wall. She leaned against it, then let herself slide down so that she was sitting on the floor. Frenzy and I exchanged a glance, but we moved over to the side of the hall and sat down in front of her. She leaned against the wall and asked "How old are you? Are you twins?" "Older than you." I said. "And yes." Frenzy finished. "Well, I'm eight years old." She said matter-of-factly. It went on like that for half an hour. We ignored the occasional weird glances we got and just talked. "You know, you aren't so bad. For a human." I said as I leaned back on my arms for support and stretched my stabilizing servos out in front of me. Frenzy and Mackenzie followed my lead and moved stiff limbs into more comfortable positions. Frenzy moved his crossed legs so that one was bent so that the knee was close to his chest. He draped an arm across that and straightened the other leg. Mackenzie adopted a position lying down on the ground with her head propped up on her hands and her elbows on the floor.

"Now what?" I asked. "Don't you hate it when conversations come to an awkward standstill?" She commented. Frenzy and I nodded. Mackenzie wasn't all that horrible. Once you got past the disgusting squishiness, and turned a blind optic to her species, she was actually a pretty good friend. Inferior, yes, but still good. Maybe she would be raised to be unlike her species... hopefully.

"I've got an idea!" Mackenzie exclaimed as she sat up on her knees. "Let's play a game. It's called tag. The rules are simple. Whoever is 'it' chases the others and tries to touch them. The others run. When 'it' catches you and touches you, they yell 'Tag!' and then whoever was touched is it. Ready, I'm it." Frenzy and I stood and looked at her, ready to bolt. "TAG!" she yelled as she lunged forward, placed her whole palm on my chest, pulled away, and sped off, all under 3 nanocliks. I gaped after her, then collected my senses. "No fair!" I called to her as I tagged Frenzy and sped off after her. I could hear Frenzy on my tail. I sped around a corner and saw Mackenzie up ahead. I increased speed to try and catch up with her. Frenzy did the same and caught me. He smacked my back, yelled "TAG!" and ran off into another corridor. I smiled and chased after Mackenzie. I found her breathing heavily through laughter. I sped up and jabbed two digits into the back of her neck. I yelled "TAG!" made a U-turn, and sped back down the corridor. Mackenzie was quickly in pursuit. I met up with Frenzy. "Mackenzie's it!" I yelled as I passed. Frenzy tried to run, but Mackenzie caught him. Mackenzie ducked out of the way of Frenzy and he went after me, since he was running in my direction anyway. I ran toward Mackenzie, having to take a small detour so Frenzy wouldn't catch me. Mackenzie turned a corner and I followed.

By this point, Frenzy and I had huge grins on our faceplates. Those dropped off faster than you can say "oops" when I saw what was around the corner. Mackenzie had also stopped dead, as did Frenzy when he finally caught up. "And just what are you doing?" Megatron asked. "Playing tag..." Mackenzie answered, more to the floor than Megatron. Megatron bent down and picked Mackenzie up by the back of her dress. "Get this straight, fleshling. You're on a short leash. Keep in mind that you are easily disposed of. Replaceable. Keep that in mind at all times, and respect your superiors. Another thing to remember; _everyone_ is your superior. Got it?" He ordered none too gently. "Y-yes. Yes sir." Mackenzie mumbled.

Megatron set her down quickly and stomped off. As soon as he rounded the corner, Mackenzie started to glare down the hall in the direction he left. Once his footsteps died away, she broke the tense silence by saying "What's _his_ problem?" Frenzy and I looked to each other, then back to her, she seemed dead serious. "Come again?" I asked. "He's _mean! _Who _is_ that?" "That's Megatron. Our _leader_. You'd do well to stay away from him." Frenzy said. "No _kidding_!" She replied as she threw her arms in the air and started to walk in the opposite direction Megatron went.

We went back to Soundwave's quarters. It was about time for everyone to go into recharge, or in the fleshy's case, sleep. It was 9:30pm Earth time. Soundwave had the schedule made up at this point. He, of course, put Starscream on the baby-sitting roster first. The other Cassetteicons and I watched from within Soundwave's chest compartment as he carried Mackenzie to Starscream's quarters. He thrust Mackenzie at Starscream as soon as the door was open and said "You get her until morning. Skywarp gets her tomorrow until noon. Then it's your turn again. The roster will be posted tomorrow. By Megatron's orders, it is _mandatory_ to take your human care shift, just in case you were thinking of neglecting your duties." Starscream glared at Soundwave and begrudgingly took the human. Starscream shut the door In Soundwave's face. Unfazed, Soundwave walked back to his quarters

Starscream

I looked dow to the human in my hand. After Soundwave had given me all those orders in Cybertronian, she was very confused and didn't know what was going on. "It's time for bed." I said in english as I set her on my desk. I put my hands on my hips and said "What is required for humans to go into recharge?" I asked. "Uhh... a pillow and blanket?" She answered. I dug through my storage cabinets and pulled out two clean rags. They were meant for cleaning out weapons (a rag similar to the ones I was holding was sitting on my berth, gritty from recent use) but they would serve my purposes. I laid it on the desk next to the human and spread it flat. I took the other rag and folded it in half. I rolled that up to make a pillow and set it on at one end of the other rag. I picked up the girl and laid her on the rag with her head resting on the makeshift pillow. I folded the end of the rag that extended far past her feet and laid it across her fleshy form. "Sleep." I said over my shoulder as I walked over to my berth. I grabbed the dirty rag again. I started to clean out my arm mounted blaster.

Mackenzie

I raised my head off of my pillow and looked over to where Starscream sat. He was sitting on a big raised metal slab. A table maybe? I watched what he was doing for a moment. "What're you looking at?" Starscream asked. "You. What are you doing?" "Maintenance. This is what I was doing before Soundwave showed up." "Is that what the other robot was named? The one who sounded like a computer?" Starscream's mouth twitched upwards into a smile for less than a second when I commented on his friend sounding like a computer. "Yes. Him." He looked at me. His eyes sent a mixed reading. He seemed curious about me overall. I pulled my blanket up higher, then continued "We never really got to talk. So, is this a good time to talk?" "As good as any." He said as he shrugged.

We talked for an hour straight. About then, I called it a night. He turned out the lights and I lied back down in my bed. Once my eyes finally adjusted and I got a bit of night-vision, I saw that Starscream was lying on the thing I had thought was a table. "That's your bed? Isn't that uncomfy?" I asked, rubbing my eye. He chuckled and said "When you're made of metal, it doesn't really bug you." "Oh." I said. I yawned, tuned over, and fell asleep quickly.


	3. Skywarp Babysits

Mackenzie

I woke up to metallic noises. Starscream had just sat up by the time I groggily opened my eyes and turned to him. I rubbed my eyes as I said "Good morning." "Good morning." He replied. He stood. He walked over to the desk which I was lying on. He sat in the chair placed in front of it and asked "How was your night?" "Fine. I slept like a rock." I said. He looked at me and was totally confused. "I slept well." I translated. He nodded.

"So, I meant to ask you last night, what made you want to stay? I mean, don't you have a family?" Starscream asked. "Well, yeah. Of course. But my parents are never home. I was so bored with my life. When I saw you guys, I saw my ticket to adventure, and I took it. Simple as that." Starscream paused. After a minute he asked "You're very trusting, aren't you?" "Uhh... Yeah, I guess. Why wouldn't I trust people?" I asked. Starscream shook his helm and said "The innocence of youth."

When he looked at the clock, he quickly jumped from the chair. "How can it be that late already? Uh... I have to get to my shift. Wait for a mech that's black and purple and has wings like me. He's late." Starscream rambled as he picked me up and carried me out the door. He set me on the ground and trotted away, sending small tremors down the corridor until he was out of sight.

I leaned up against the wall in the giant purple corridor. _Starscream said I should be looking for a purple and black mech with jet wings like him. Mech? What does that mean?_ I was mulling that over, and I guessed that it meant something along the lines of "guy". I shifted my gaze from the floor to the right side of the corridor. Nothing. Left? "Kitty!"

The black cat looked confused as I ran up to it. It hissed when I got too close for its liking. Once I stood next to it, I held up my hand. He (at least I _think_ it was a he) stared at my hand but didn't move. I proceeded to gently rub behind his ear. He looked like he was going to bite me for a second, but thought better of it and let me continue. Now knowing I had his assent, I stepped closer and used my fingertips to stroke his neck. He shut his bright red eyes and leaned into my hand. He started to purr and walk around me, rubbing his metal body to mine as I let my hand glide over his back. When he came back to my front, I scratched under his chin.

A sudden voice startled us both. "What the?" said the voice. I followed the voice to a giant robot that was black and blue. His friend next to him was holding back laughter. The kitty instantly ran in the opposite direction. "I assume one of you is Skywarp? Starscream told me to wait for you. He also told me to tell you that you're late." I stated. The purple one, apparently Skywarp, rolled his eyes and said "Yah yah yah. I know." The blue one said "This slaghead here managed to get a shard if metal from one of the target practice drones lodged in his gun. From 100 feet away." "Hey!" Skywarp squawked. The blue one smiled as he continued. "So we're off to see Hook in the med bay." the blue one stooped to scoop me off the ground.

As they walked down the hall with me resting on the blue one's palm, I turned around to address them. "Ok. I know you" here I pointed at the purple one "are Skywarp. But I don't know your" here I pointed at the blue one "name. What is it, mister?" "Thundercracker." he replied simply. "What is it with you guys and long names?" I asked of no one in particular. The corner of Thundercracker's mouth twitched up in a smile for less than a second. "And that's why we gave him a nickname!" Skywarp said. "Don't even!" Thundercracker warned. "TC! Or Thunder. Your pick." Skywarp finished with a victorious smile. "Yeah, well Skywarp's nickname is Warp." Thundercracker announced. Skywarp's smile faded and he glared at Thundercracker. "I don't get why you hate those names so bad. They're fine nicknames." I said. Skywarp looked back down to me as if he'd forgotten I was even there. "They're just annoying. But Starscream definitely got the worst of it." he said. "What's his nickname?" I asked. "Screamer." Thundercracker stated. "He _hates_ that. And he's got another nickname that we didn't even make up; Squeaky. He'll slag anyone who calls him that." Skywarp said. "We all call each other those nicknames, but slag anyone else who dares." Thundercracker stated flatly. I nodded. We had reached the med bay doors by now. They opened with a swoosh, and Thundercracker and Skywarp stepped inside.

When Skywarp told him what happened, Hook called him a moron and told him to sit on the berth. Thundercracker had set me down so he cold lean on a different berth. "What's Hook gonna do to him?" I asked Thundercracker. "By the looks of it, he'll have to dismantle his arm to get to it. It sucks, because all that needs to be done is for the shard to be removed. Internal repairs can do the rest." he explained. "...I think I can help." I said. "Oh really now?" Thundercracker asked, he didn't think I could. "I can!" "Ok, try." Thundercracker said as he picked me up and dumped me on Skywarp's berth. Hook an Skywarp both stared at me as I walked up to Skywarp's already partially dismantled weapon. I promptly shoved my body into the barrel of the gun, arms first. It was a tight fit, but it worked. I shimmied up until I could reach the shard. I yanked a few times, and it came loose. I squirmed back out and dropped the shard on the table. "Told ya." I said proudly. All three seemed surprised. Hook quickly put the gun back together and we returned to Skywarp's quarters.

Skywarp

I still can't believe she did that. _Willingly_ nonetheless. No Autobot would even want to have my blaster pointed at them, and she just shoved herself in like it was no big deal. No human had ever even come that close with out either dying or at least getting a death threat.

When we asked her what she wanted to do, she said she needed to take a bath. After a brief internet hacking, I found out what she meant. I grabbed an empty energon cube and filled it with water from some stupid water tower in a nearby human city. I returned 10 minutes later. When she felt the water, she politely asked "Is there any way to heat this up?" "Fine." I said with a sigh. I stuck my blaster in the water and set it on low power. I removed it a minute later and asked "Hot enough?" She put her hand in and nodded. "Now, please don't look. Please? It's a human thing." she pleaded. "Fine. I don't care." TC and I went over and chatted on the other side of the room.

She walked along the floor and tapped our feet a few minutes later. She was back in her clothes, but her hair was wet. She joined the conversation happily.

Eventually, TC had to go work his shift on patrol. After he left, Mackenzie asked "Now what?" We both sat in thought. Suddenly, she said "Dance party! Ever had one?" "Uhh... No." I replied. "Aww, why not? They're so much fun! Here. You have internet, right?" She pointed to my computer. "Duh. Why?" "Then we have music!"

She guided me to a website where she'd made a playlist of songs. I'd expected girly songs, but she had mostly Panic! At The Disco and My Chemical Romance.

At first I felt stupid, but after seeing her wiggling her body to the music and having fun, I copied her and found it was quite amusing. In the matter of an hour, she'd taught me how to do the Cha Cha Slide, Macarana, and a weird dance called Caramelldansen. That one was weird. But all in all, I had a good time. She was innocent and fun, much like a youngling in my own species. I couldn't help but like her.

Starscream came to pick her up at noon, and I bid my new found friend goodbye. All through patrol, I had Caramelldansen stuck in my head.


	4. Human Needs

Mackenzie

"So, here we are again." Starscream said simply. "Yup." "So, what do you want to do, Mackenzie?" "You know, you can call me Kenzie. ...If you want." Starscream seemed a little surprised. But only for a split second. "Ok then, Kenzie." He said with a smile. My stomach chose that moment to growl loudly. "...Was that you?" Starscream asked, with the robotic equivalent of a raised eyebrow on his face. "Yeah. I'd totally forgotten that I hadn't eaten since I came here." "...Right. I forgot that too. ...I'll call Thundercracker and Skywarp." The two other jets were in the room in minutes. Starscream informed them of the problem and they left the room.

Thundercracker

"What the frag do humans eat anyways?" I asked of my purple trinemate. He shrugged, so we went to consult our main source of information on Earth; the internet. I plopped down in the chair in front of the computer in my quarters with Skywarp standing just behind my right shoulder. I pulled up Google and simply typed "food" then hit the search button. The first link gave ads and the address of a grocery store. We flew to the address provided by the site.

Once we landed in a large (by human standards) alleyway behind the grocery store, Skywarp immediately activated his holoform. Skywarp hacked a nearby ATM, which spewed a stack of green paper bills. I activated my holoform, snatched the money, and went inside the store. It was much bigger than I expected. I ended up taking a bunch of random things. Once back to the front of the store, I stared into the basket and looked over my "purchases." The labels said that I had grabbed one can of tuna, one frozen steak, one box of pasta, one container of sea salt, an apple, a box of "Sugar Explosion Cereal", a carton of 2% milk, a bag of something called "Pixy Stix", and a carrot. I begrudgingly waited in line, allowed the fleshy behind the check stand to scan the items, which she seemed confused about for some reason, and when she gave me a dollar amount, I dropped the money on the counter and walked out. From what I saw from my peripheral vision, she was staring stunned at the stack of bills.

I walked out to the back of the store, where Skywarp was waiting, crouched and out of sight sandwiched between the grocery story and the bowling alley behind it. The alley we were currently in was most likely for large deliveries. I deactivated my holoform, stuffed the grocery bags in my cockpit and Warp and I took off.

Mackenzie

Thundercracker and Skywarp returned. Thundercracker opened his hand and dumped the contents on the table. "We went to a grocery store. I just kinda grabbed whatever." Thundercracker said with a shrug. "You've never done this before, have you?" I asked politely. "No. Why?" Thundercracker asked. "Half of this isn't even edible." Skywarp had to hold back laughter, Starscream looked confused, and Thundercracker looked embarrassed. "It's ok, really. How could you know? But let me teach you." I said. I picked up the steak. "This needs to be cooked first. Raw meat carries disease." I set down the meat and displayed the salt instead. "This goes on other food, not alone. Well, technically I could eat it alone, but... ick." And so it went. After sorting out the inedible stuff, which they disposed of, I sat down with what I actually could eat. And I of course decided to go with the Pixy Stix.

I downed 20 packets right away. The sugar rush followed quickly after. Not knowing what to do with that much energy, I suggested we should have another dance party. Starscream and Thundercracker seemed hesitant, but with prodding from Skywarp, they caved. I blasted Caramelldansen, and Skywarp and I immediately started the dance. Without stopping the movement in my hips, I called to the very confused jets "Copy us!" They reluctantly started the dance tentatively, but slowly got more into it. About halfway through, Thundercracker called "Am I doing it right, Mackenzie?" I replied "Yeah! And you can call me Kenzie if you want." Thundercracker paused in speech, but not in dancing. After a moment, he said "You can call me TC if you want." "You can use my nickname." Skywarp piped up. "Mine too." Starscream added. "What happened to 'slag anyone else who dares'?" I asked. "Well, you're different." Thundercracker said, with nods of assent from the others. I smiled wide. Then the song ended.

Skywarp and I tried to teach Starscream and Thundercracker the Macarana, which had them tripping over their own limbs, as Skywarp had done when he was learning. The picked it up relatively quickly though. After the last dance, my sugar rush had finally completely dwindled, leaving me dog tired. Thundercracker and Skywarp left to the own respective quarters and Starscream lay on his own berth. "You know, you, TC, and Warp are really nice." I muttered. "You aren't so bad yourself." Screamer replied before the red glow from his eyes dimmed, signaling his falling asleep.

I rolled over in my makeshift bed. I couldn't fall asleep though. The thin cloth offered no warmth, and I was cold. Finally giving up on trying to sleep despite that fact, I rolled out of bed and dropped the distance to the floor from the tabletop. I landed hard on my heels, causing immediate soreness, but I was ok. I walked up to Starscream's berth and found hand holds on his small (for him anyways) bedside table so that I could scramble up unto the berth. I climbed up onto his arm, and as I was pulling myself up onto his chest, I discovered that he was warm. Before I could develop on that thought further however, Starscream jerked awake, I barely was able to keep from falling off him and ended up splayed on my front side from the sudden motion. "Kenzie? What're you doing?" "I couldn't sleep. I was cold." I paused. "Can I sleep with you?" I hadn't thought that last part out, and I instantly regretted it. Screamer looked at me, confused. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't-" I started. "No, it's ok. You can stay here I guess..." He said. "Thank you." I said quietly. I scooted over so that I was laying with my back against his orange cockpit. He gently laid his hand over me. I was grateful for the warmth he provided. He looked down to me. "Comfortable?" He asked. "Yes." I said. I meant it too, which was kind of odd considering the fact that he was made of metal. He laid his head back and fell back into slumber. I quickly followed suit, which was easy in my warm metallic cocoon.


	5. Shopping and School

(((A/N: I had to look this up on TFwiki, so let me save you the trouble. When it gets to it, a quartex is about a month and a stellar cycle is about a year.)))

I was with Rumble and Frenzy again. It had been about 3 weeks now and the rotation had finally come back to them. They seemed happy to see me. "Hey Mackenzie." Rumble greeted with a silent wave from his twin as his hello. "Please, call me Kenzie." I said. "Woah, what happened to ya?" Frenzy said after he got a good look at me. "Huh?" I said, looking down at myself. "Oh, my clothes are just dirty. _Really_ dirty. Wow, I need more clothes." Rumble looked thoughtful for a moment before saying "I think that can be arranged."

Rumble

We arrived at the mall after closing. The giant superstore had all the lights out and security systems on. The light of the moon provided the only light to see by, but it was nearly full so Frenzy and I didn't even bother to use night vision. "I think it's closed." Kenzie said uncertainly. "Yeah, but my friend said it was okay." I assured her. I'd had to come up with some dumb story about having a friend that would let us go after hours so that people wouldn't stare at Frenzy and I. She ate that lie up though, so I was happy with it.

"I have to go in through the back door, stay here and I'll let you in from the inside." I instructed Kenzie. She nodded and I left my twin and charge. I went to the side of the building and clambered into the air duct. Following my scanners, I found the security room. I punched a hole in the duct in lieu of a door. I quickly shut down all security systems, turned on the lights, then left for the front door.

Kenzie and Frenzy were right where I'd left them. I opened the door, gesturing for the duo to enter. Frenzy followed behind Kenzie, and the human seemed eager to get started. "I've never been able to choose my own clothes before!" She grabbed a cart and ran to the nearest rack. "Eww! Old man clothes!" She declared, darting off in another direction. We eventually landed in the young males section. "Don't females shop in the female section?" I asked, pointing to the pinker section. "Not necessarily. I'm not gonna wear any of that frilly stuff anymore, that's what mom used to make me wear. Hey, what size am I?" She explained, ending with a question as she pulled a slip of paper out of the collar of her dress. "Size 8." I read off the tag. She then pulled away and dashed between the racks, filling the cart. Once the cart was overflowing with garments, she ran into the dressing rooms and had a mini fashion show, asking our opinions on each outfit. She ended up throwing out half the garments, sloppily hanging them on hooks and putting them on the rack with the sign saying "Didn't love it?" Throwing her new wardrobe back in the cart, she said "That's all the clothes I'll need." "But won't they get dirty again?" Frenzy piped up. "No, you wash them, silly! Oh, wait you don't have a washing machine, do you?" And that started a whole new round of shopping.

We shoved her cart of clothes into my subspace, explaining that I was to pay my friend tomorrow. She then dragged us through the store buying a list of human needs which were all shoved into subspace. I doubt there was anything this store _didn't_ have. By the end, both our subspaces were packed with a bed, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, sink, microwave, bathtub, computer, dresser, TV, toilet, and a stock of TV diners, candy, and milk. "Wow, you guys can afford all this? I feel bad..." Mackenzie said, realizing how much she'd "purchased". "Nah, don't worry about it." Frenzy said. "We got it covered." I added.

We were unloaded once we got to base, and she got her own room in what used to be a storage closet. All us Cassetticons and Kenzie cleaned it out and then her stuff was moved in. Her electronics were tapped into the same power grid that powered the rest of the base, and her water came from the sea through a heavy duty filtration system. Any waste of hers went directly down to the incinerator.

She no longer needed a babysitter, but she often visited mechs (mostly Starscream's trine and us Cassetticons) and was visited often as well. She was loved by every mech on base, except Soundwave and Megatron of course. Soundwave was, well, emotionless. And Megatron didn't even give her a chance. In fact, I don't even think he's so much as looked at her since the day she arrived. Ah well, more time for those of us who actually care. The big guys keep saying she reminds them of a sparkling. I've never seen one, but I can't help but care about her. I guess that's what it's like with a sparkling too.

Starscream

Megatron summoned me to his office. Once at the door, I sent a databurst reporting my presence. "Enter." Megatron databursted right back. I hit the button on the control panel and complied with Megatron's order.

As per usual, Megatron dispensed with the formalities and cut to the chase. "The human. She has been residing on the Nemesis for two quartexes, correct?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Then it is high time to start her education."

"But if she discovers we're fighting a war, she might be scared off. She is still young."

"What do I care?"

"She will learn better, and not have to be so closely controlled if she is here willingly."

"Then just don't mention the war!"

"So I'm just supposed to _skip over_ the fact that we've been locked in a planet-wide civil conflict for _9 million stellar cycles_?"

"Yes, you dolt! Teach her about the golden age, teach her our language, our religion if you must!" Megatron looked as if he were about to beat me, so I relented. "Yes, master."

Mackenzie

"I have to go to school? _Seriously_? I don't care about math and presidents and slag!" I whined. Starscream started laughing. "What?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. Where did you learn that word?" he asked, apparently in reference to "slag". "You." I answered. He looked embarrassed, causing me to laugh this time.

"But seriously though," I continued "I don't want to go to school." "I'm going to be teaching you. About my culture." Starscream explained. "Well, in that case." I said, scooting forward and looking at him with interest. Starscream smiled and turned to me. Then he asked "Well, what do you want to know?"

(((A/N: Yeah, it's me again. I'm sorry for the late update. It was a message from Transformer diva that got this chapter up, so Merry Ramahanakwansmas (That covers all the holidays right?) to you, Transformer diva! I hope this chapter is adequate. I know it's kinda short (then again they all are) but I wanted you to have this before Christmas. So happy holidays to you all, may it be filled with family and new Transformers toys! ;D)))


	6. The Raid

Starscream

I never knew organic minds could absorb new data so quickly. Mackenzie's lessons had begun about a week ago, and we'd already finished a cursory lesson on Cybertron. How it was out home world, what it looked like, major cities, and daily life on the planet. Now that we'd gotten our planet out of the way, it was time to study its inhabitants.

I had Mackenzie in my quarters for her daily lesson. My trinemates were also present just because they had nothing better to do. I was teaching her the terminology for the basic parts of a Cybertronian frame. I had given her a run-through once already and was now quizzing her. Skywarp was seated on my berth with his legs hanging off the edge. Mackenzie was perched on his knee. Thundercracker sat similarly to Skywarp's right side. "How about this one?" I asked, displaying my arm. "Servo!" She called without hesitation. "Correct. And these?" I asked, wiggling my fingers. "Digits!" She called again, and like all the others, she was right. "I think I covered everything." I stated. "Wait, I know one you forgot!" Skywarp piped up. He quickly transitioned the human onto Thundercracker's shoulder and trotted up to me. Skywarp swept downward and came back up with my foot in his grasp. "What's this?" he asked with an innocent smile. Needless to say, I had fallen over rather quickly and rather loudly. My startled squawk had been overshadowed by the resounding crash of my metal body hitting the floor and had sent both Thundercracker and Mackenzie into a laughing fit. "Pede!" she said in between giggles. I yanked my pede free and stood up, glaring at Skywarp. I smacked him upside the helm as hard as possible and he resumed his seat with a satisfied smile, but was rubbing the sore spot on his helm. "And that would be a dented helm." I said venomously, earning a few chuckles.

Suddenly, Megatron's voice dominated my focus as he summoned me to his quarters. I made a hasty goodbye and trotted to Megatron's office. I databursted notification of my arrival and Megatron's voice called from within "Enter." I complied and saw that Soundwave was there as well. That could mean only one thing. "You're planning an energy raid." I posed the question more as a statement, since I already knew the answer. "Yes. Energy reserves are dangerously low." He responded. "I know." I said seriously, thinking of the watered down slag that came through the energon dispensers recently. It didn't even deserve the title of energon.

"My only concern is what will happen to Mackenzie." I said. "The human is your charge, you take care of it!" Megatron snapped. I nodded and stepped up to the table with a large holographic map hovering above it. Megatron swiped his fingers across the surface of the hovering image to bring up the area he desired. "Soundwave found this oil field a few miles north of here. It is hidden by a small range of mountains, meaning that the Autobots will either have to drive over or around while we can simply fly over, giving us a leg up." Megatron started, pointing to certain areas as he spoke, which highlighted at his touch. "But what if they bring the Arielbots or Skyfire? They are fliers as well." I pointed out. "That's what I expect your trine to take care of. I'll also give you command of the Conehead trine. Menasor will be there to handle Superion, should the Arielbots merge." Megatron explained. "Estimated time before Autobot reinforcements arrive: 20 kliks." Soundwave chimed in. "So we have to be fast if we want to escape with all the spoils." Megatron said, "We attack at dawn."

I walked out of the room wondering what on Earth I'd do with Mackenzie when I heard someone call my designation. Turning around and seeing no one, I turned my gaze to the floor. Rumble and Frenzy trotted up. "We can take care of Kenzie." Rumble offered. "I need no help. I can figure out my own problem." I said. "Who were you gonna get to do it? Skywarp? Thundercracker? You've only got 6 bots to fight off the Arielbots _and_ keep Skyfire busy. You need all your troops." Frenzy pointed out. "Megatron's taking the Stunticons and the triplechangers, so they can handle Superion and any ground troops Skyfire lugs over." Rumble added. Seeing the logic in their argument, I agreed.

Mackenzie

"Wow, the place is really empty today." I commented. Rumble was to my left and Frenzy was to my right as we walked down the deserted purple halls side by side. "Yeah, the big guys had something to do today." Frenzy supplied. "What did they have to do?" I asked. "They're out to get more energy because our reserves are getting low." Rumble said. "Ok. So would you say they're working hard?" I asked. "Definitely." Frenzy said immediately. I smiled and rubbed my hands together saying, "Then I've got an idea."

Skywarp

We returned to the Nemesis bruised, but successful. Skyfire had immediately dumped his load onto our ground forces, which we couldn't stop. We kept him from going back for more, but the damage had already been done; the Dinobots had arrived. The Arielbots showed up too, but Starscream made sure that we kept them from merging. The only reason we'd managed to get away with all the energon cubes we'd made was because I'd had a crazy idea and followed it through.

The ground troops had the cubes stacked in a large pyramid, and they were nearly backed up into it as the Dinobots advanced. I broke formation, ignoring Starscream's protests via comm link, flying into the pyramid and warping. Any cube in contact with any part of me was transported with me directly into the storage room of the Nemesis. I warped back and repeated 5 times. By then, there were few enough cubes for the remaining Decepticons to carry them back as we flew. My warp drive was getting overheated with so much use, but I was happy. As soon as the newly earned energon was put into the ship's reserves to be distributed through dispensers, used for the various systems, and the like, everybot who wasn't injured badly (which were most) headed to the rec room to celebrate. What wasn't expected about that was that Kenzie had been busy while we were away. The entire room was covered in streamers and banners welcoming us back. "Hey guys!" she called happily from a tabletop. Before anyone could question the purpose of the décor, she announced "It's a party!" No one needed to be told twice.

By the time everyone was just a bit tipsy, even those who had come back from the med bay, Kenzie got Rumble and Frenzy to help clear the space in the middle of the room, then explained that the party was a _dance_ party. She walked up to the control panel in the back of the room and started blasting music, and I jumped onto the floor immediately. TC followed close behind, and soon everyone was into it. The rec room became a sea of moving bodies, come more clumsy than others depending on how overenergized they were. "This one's a favorite of mine!" Kenzie announced and changed the song.

_If I retreat_

_Words, wars, and symphonies_

_Make room we're taking over here_

_So the gallanting_

_Cold and alone, it suits you well_

_You won't find me perching here again_

_May your feet serve you well_

_And the rest be sent to Hell_

_Where they always have belonged_

_Cold hearts, colder songs_

_They will play us out_

_With a song of pure romance_

_Stomp your feet and clap your hands_

_Let's kill tonight!_

_Kill tonight!_

_Show them all you're not the ordinary type_

_Let's kill tonight!_

_Kill tonight!_

_Show them all you're not the ordinary type_

_Let's kill tonight!_

Everyone burst out laughing at the first "Let's kill tonight!" Mackenzie looked confused, but didn't question it. Good thing too. She didn't need to know how relevant those lyrics were. Plus, some of the drunker mechs might even tell her. The night wore on, and the party didn't even slow. With this much energon in our systems, no one needed recharge.

Around midnight Earth time, I found Mackenzie in a fitful sleep on top of a table. Even I was still sober enough to know she shouldn't stay here. I gently scooped her off the table, causing her to stir but not fully wake. I carried her down a hallway or two and entered her small room. It was spacious enough for her even with the walls completely barricaded by appliances, but my wingspan barely fit through the doorway. I set her on her bed and tucked her in. Finally away from the noise of the party I heard the small change of her breathing as she slipped into deep sleep. I smiled and left the room soundlessly to join back into the rowdy festivities.

And that's the last thing I remember from that night. Well, that and starting a drinking contest with Wildrider. Dear Primus, what a hangover that was...

(((A/N: If anyone cares, the song was "Let's Kill Tonight" By Panic! At The Disco, which I by no stretch of the imagination have any claim to.)))


	7. Battle

Mackenzie

I'd decided to hang out with Thundercracker today. My room was lonely and boring. I was seated on his desk while he sat cross legged in the seat next to the desk. Both of us were reading off data pads (Mine was obviously much smaller than his. Starscream had made mine for me. He'd told me it was a gift for the 6 month anniversary of my arrival on base.) I was reading an article about Cybertronian cities that Starscream had given to me as homework. The material was interesting, so I was happy to complete my assignment. I had no idea what Thundercracker was reading since it was in Cybertronian.

Just about then, the door swooshed open, revealing Skywarp. "Guess who's drunk!" Skywarp cried, his optics flickering. "I guess Skywarp." Thundercracker said flatly without looking away from his datapad. "You guess right!" Skywarp cheered before flopping ungracefully onto Thundercracker's vacant berth face first. Lowering his datapad and pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, TC asked "Did you get into a drinking contest with one of the Stunticons _again_?" "No! It was Ramjet." Skywarp said defensively, his reply muffled by the berth which his face was still flattened against. Thundercracker sighed. "You're gonna blow through our energy reserves. You've got to stop." "No, _you've_ got to stop!" Skywarp slurred, pointing an accusing finger in TC's direction, which promptly went slack and swung down limply. Thundercracker cut off before he could reply. I'd been here long enough to know that meant that he was getting a call on his comm link. "Speaking of energy reserves, Megatron needs us to go out on a mission." Thundercracker said, looking down to me. Turning to his friend, he said "You are far too overenergized to go. Stay here with Kenzie." Skywarp made some sort of protest in Cybertronian, which went ignored by TC. "I'll be back." the blue mech stated before trotting out of the room.

Skywarp sat up and stuck his glossa out in the direction his trinemate had left. Skywarp attempted to sit up, but ended up flopping back down onto the berth and stayed there for a few minutes."Too overenergized my aft." He mumbled before reverting back to his native language. He stood unsteadily and stumbled out of the room. _I'm tired of not knowing where the Pit they go. I'll just sneak along with Skywarp. Starscream already taught me that overenergized bots are less aware of their surroundings, so he won't notice._ I decided.

I leapt down onto the chair and from there slid down the leg of it like a fireman's pole. Skywarp's stumbling steps slowed him down enough for me to catch up to him by sprinting. I slipped into the elevator doors just as they were closing behind Skywarp. The shaft jolted as it started speeding us toward the surface. Our trip was a short one and I was nearly blinded by the sunlight I was unused to. Skywarp wasted no time in transforming. I lunged forward and wound all available limbs around his landing gear. He took off and the wind instantly was too much for me to keep my eyes open. I held on tightly, settling down for a long ride.

By the time Skywarp arrived, the action had already started. As soon as he landed, I ran away and ducked into a corner out of the way. Not only were the Cybertronians I knew here, but there were strange mechs too. Who were they? Why had I never met them? Then I realized, they were _fighting_. Guns were going off everywhere, criss crossing the large dam as well as the surrounding area. I didn't know where to look, there were fights breaking out everywhere. A strange mech was fighting with Soundwave nearby. "I've heard Soundwaves travel faster in water. Let's test that theory!" The mystery mech declared. Despite being half Soundwave's size, he picked him up and threw him over the edge of the dam, letting him fall into the rushing river far below. The tan mech walked away looking pleased, and as I was looking down into the water to see if Soundwave was okay, a sudden voice from behind me scared me. "Hello little human. Are you okay?" I spun around to see a strange mech behind me. He was gray and had car doors mounted on his back like wings. He was crouched down to be more at my level. His eyes were an icy blue. Scared witless, I just pressed by back against the rock I'd been using for cover. "I'm Bluestreak. Don't worry, we'll get you out of here." He sounded like he was trying to be nice, but I still couldn't manage speech. He reached out for me, and that's when I ran.

I screamed out of pure instinct, catching the attention of a yellow mech grappling with Ravage. Ravage was teething on one of the yellow horns atop his helm, but when the yellow mech saw me, he kicked Ravage hard enough to send him flying across the dam and knock into Dirge, who was hurriedly trying to stack energon cubes in Astrotrain's interior. He ran over, scooped me up, and kept running. "Sorry, but we've got to get you out of here. Don't worry. I'm Bumblebee, by the way." Before Bumblebee could say any more, Ravage had returned and pounced on his back, knocking the yellow mech to the ground. I quickly stood, and Ravage ducked between by legs, thereby scooping me onto his back. I wrapped my arms around his neck so I wouldn't fall off. He was dashing toward Astrotrain, no doubt planning to put me into his interior and out of the battle. However, the tan robot who'd dumped Soundwave had other ideas. He aimed a kick at Ravage and lashed out just as Bumblebee called "No, Brawn! The human!" Brawn realized his mistake too late, and Ravage was sent over the edge of the dam. Having lost my grip with the force of the blow, I free-fell through open air, churning water below me.

My scream was cut off as I suddenly felt metal hands around me. They belonged to Brawn. Twisting midair, he chucked me toward the top of the dam, saving me from drowning in the river below just before splashing in himself. Screaming as I arced over the dam, I saw that I'd caught Megatron's attention. He was hit by the large red mech behind him. Turning back to his opponent and growling, He dealt the red mech a hard whack from the purple mace extending from his wrist, sending the red mech flying. He lunged to catch me. I felt relief only momentarily as a hole opened on the air itself. Starscream's teachings instantly surfaced and brought up one word. _Subspace_. Through the hole I went, and the world went dark.


	8. Revelation

I was brought back to the light by a rough servo grabbing me. I blinked at the blinding light, my eyes desperately attempting to see. Once vision came back to me, I saw that I'd been brought back to the waking world in the middle of an argument. Megatron clicked at Starscream furiously, with Starscream making defensive whirring noises in return. It was a shouting match in Cybertronian.

At this point, Megatron shoved me in Starscream's direction none too gently, and dropped me. I didn't have far to fall before I was sprawled across a blue metallic palm. I adjusted myself into a more respectable position atop the familiar servo as Starscream turned and stalked away from Megatron with a huff.

I waited until Starscream had entered his quarters. The second the door shut, I pounced on him. "What was that all about? What were you guys doing up on that dam? Why were you fighting? Who were those weird mechs you were fighting? What were you arguing with Megatron about?" Starscream seemed surprised at first, but by the end of the flooding questions, he seemed to wilt a bit. "You ever hear the expression 'curiosity killed the cat'?" Starscream asked. "Yes, I have. Don't get off topic!" said. Why was he bringing up human sayings? "I am on topic. We were going to tell you when you were older. You're too young to be brought into this. Then again, we'd always consider you too young. Your life span is just a brief moment compared to ours..." he trailed off. "You still didn't answer." I pointed out with annoyance. He shook his helm and chuckled, "You're so naïve and oblivious." Huh? What was that supposed to mean? He sat at his desk and set me on the desktop.

"Well, remember how I was teaching you about Cybertron's Golden Age?" he asked.

"Uh-huh." I said.

"Well, the Golden Age is long since passed. About 9 million years ago. That was when the great Cybertronian Civil War started."

"War? You mean, you're a soldier?"

"Yes. A very good one."

"Have you... Have you killed people?"

He hesitated. "I won't lie. Yes. Yes I have."

I looked down at his servos as if there would still be blood on them.

"We had no choice. We had to go to war." He said a little sadly.

"Why?"

"We were being subjugated. There were good mechs being suffocated by the rigid caste system on Cybertron. They were poor and jobless because they were sparked into a family that had no credits. They had no chance to better their lives. The poor got poorer, and the rich got richer."

"That's terrible!"

"Indeed. Those who were on the top fought to stay on the top, and became the Autobots. Those who were on the bottom rose up against our Autobot oppressors and became the Decepticons." he gestured to the pointed purple face displayed on his wing.

"So, those mechs at the dam... Those were Autobots."

"Yes."

"Those fraggers."

He shook his helm. "You hang around Skywarp too much. A youngling shouldn't use that kind of language."

"Who cares? I want to help you guys."

"Well, I think there may be a way to arrange that." Starscream said. "We will begin your training immediately."


	9. Unwanted Rescue

Starscream

Attempting to get a human off the ceiling was more difficult than I'd imagined.

Mackenzie, equipped with magnetic gloves and boots was hanging from the ceiling, unable to get herself down. I don't even remember how she'd gotten up there in the first place, but the youngling did not have the physical strength required to disengage the devices from the metal roof. "Starscream, help!" Mackenzie cried from her predicament. "I'm trying! But If I reach up to you to deactivate the gloves, my fingers will just be magnetized too." I said. The only option I could think f was firing my null ray at the magnets, but I didn't want to fire at Mackenzie. More because it would scare her than anything else.

However, when klaxons signaling the entrance of an intruder (Judging from the sudden and massive amount of vibrations running through the base, a lot of intruders) thoughts like that were thrown to the wind. "Okay, Kenzie. I'm going to use my null ray to deactivate the magnets. Just trust me." The human nodded, but still seemed scared when my arm mounted cannons were pointed her way. I gave her an apologetic look and opened fire. The magnets instantly went dead, and she fell. I caught her and headed out the door, only to be met with two Autobot faces.

"Well, well. What'cha got there, Starscream?" Bluestreak said tauntingly, his blaster aimed between my optics. Mackenzie went stiff on my palm. I switched my grip, encasing the youngling with my servo as much as possible. I never took my eyes off the Autobot sharpshooter, but I was also aware of the small yellow Autobot scout just behind him.

With one swift kick to Bluestreak's middle, I'd sent him flying, landing on top of Bumblebee. (I knew their designations well, because I'd been forced to create the database of Autobot enemies almost singlehandedly.) I sprinted down the hall, not to run from a fight, but to keep Mackenzie safe. That was thwarted as a gray fist suddenly came into contact with my face. My equilibrium circuit was dislodged by the blow. Without balance, I fell onto my back, making my wings flare with pain. My damaged optics made it seem as if there were two red Autobots stepping from around the corner where they'd been concealed, but when my optics re-calibrated, I realized that it was only one Ironhide.

I'd shielded Mackenzie from the fall as much as I could, but even so, she had been knocked unconscious. I attempted to retaliate when the human was plucked from my grasp, but the fast movement made my optics fritz again, and I couldn't decide which of the six Autobots I was seeing was the correct one. Bumblebee trotted away, Mackenzie clutching Mackenzie close to his chassis protectively. "Prime, we've got the girl!" I heard Bumblebee cry, most likely over a comm link as well as aloud. Prime's voice echoed throughout the Nemesis without the need of a comm. "Autobots, roll for home!"

Ironhide smirked down at me triumphantly, and that was the last thing I saw before the weapons specialist's pede came down on my head and the world went black.

Mackenzie

I woke up, and the first thing I registered was that my head hurt like a son of a glitch. "Ugh, what happened?" I muttered. Instead of the screechy voice I was expecting, I heard an unfamiliar voice reply "Your rescue." I finally opened my eyes, and I was met with ice blue optics all around. The bright light was too much, so I shielded my eyes from the bright overhead light with a hand. In doing so, I discovered that my forehead had been bandaged. When had that happened? I also noticed that there was a sensation of motion, meaning we were in a large trailer or something of the like. I recognized two mechs sitting in the corner from the dam, the one with the gray doorwinger and the yellow horned one. The white and red one closest to me was new. ...And too close. The red crosses on his shoulders indicated that he was a medic, but I still didn't like him. "You took me away from my home!" I yelled at him. He seemed surprised and a bit confused at my words.

I didn't see anything else as suddenly Skywarp occupied the space behind me. Before I could react, I was in Skywarp's hands. Then it felt like I was squished flat, so I squeezed my eyes shut. Once the sensation lifted, I opened my eyes to find that I was back at the base. I was in Skywarp's quarters, and Thundercracker was there too. "I've never warped with a human. Are you ok?" Skywarp asked. "...I feel like I might barf, but otherwise, I'm ok." I said, clutching at my queasy middle. Skywarp laughed. "Most mechs have that reaction too, don't worry."

Thundercracker chose this moment to take me into his hands. "What did they do to you?" Thundercracker asked, sounding worried. "Nothing. Warp got me before they could do anything." I said. At that point, Starscream showed up. His faceplate was dented, and one of his optics was cracked. "I told Megatron that Kenzie's back." He said. He then took his turn to hold me. He attempted to straighten my clothing as he asked "Were you injured?" "Just this. But what happened to you?" I said, lifting my bangs to reveal the thick bandage adorning my forehead. Before Starscream could answer my question, Skywarp snatched me back. He started to brush back my hair (although my short spiked bob didn't leave much hair to brush) with a single finger. "Oh, you poor little youngling!" Skywarp fretted.

I was with the Seekers the rest of the day. I learned one thing that day; Seekers are giant, metal mother hens.


	10. Birthday?

Starscream

"Screamer, what day is it?" Mackenzie asked. "February second." my holoform rattled off without hesitation. "Why?" I then asked, as my fake human hands carefully snipped at the human sparkling's hair, cutting it into her desired spiked bob. (She'd hated the longer "girly" hairstyle her mother had forced upon her.) "Tomorrow's my birthday!" she said, as if just realizing it. "I've been gone a long time. Haven't I? When I got here, I was eight and a quarter. Now I'll be nine." "Yes. You have been here a while. About eight quartexes." She was silent. "Am I done?" she asked after a moment. I gave her the affirmative. "I told Rumble and Frenzy I'd teach them double dutch. I gotta go, bye!" She said, giving my holoform a brief hug before she dashed out of her room.

My holoform smiled after her just before fizzling out of existence. I sat up in my real frame, located in my quarters. _Birthday? What does a birthday entail?_ Google was quickly becoming the greatest ally I had on Earth.

Mackenzie

Hearing noise I woke up partially to find three red-eyed holoforms staring down at me. I was instantly awake and started squealing as Skywarp scooped me from my bed and threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Squealing morphed into giggles as I yelled _"Skywarp!"_ but my laughter showed that I wasn't really mad. "Happy birthday!" all three Seekers called. My smile was a mile wide as Skywarp set me down. "It's your special day. So, how does a morning flight sound?" Starscream asked. "Yeah! Let's do it!" I crowed enthusiastically. "We can't fly from here, let's go!" TC said, giving me a shove in the back toward the door. I ran right out of the room, the three holoforms easily keeping up. Starscream took point and I followed him through the winding halls of the _Nemesis_.

The holoforms disappeared and I found the Seekers already waiting for me in the elevator at the end of the last hall. The elevator shot upwards, but it couldn't go fast enough for me. I was so excited when the elevator broke the surface and the door dropped open. TC helped me into Warp's cockpit and we took off.

Skywarp wasted no time and immediately started pulling stunts. He started doing shuttle loops, corkscrews, and even nose diving hard enough to give me a sense of zero-g. Adrenaline was running high, and I couldn't stop laughing. TC and Screamer were close at hand the whole way through. Skywarp dove back below the cloud barrier, and I could see the ocean spanning forever through the cockpit's glass cover. "Hey Kenzie, ever wanted to try skydiving?" Warp asked suddenly. Without much thought, I said yes. "Well then, here she comes, Screamer!" "Skywarp! Don't you dare!" Screamer warned, his voice crackling over Warps' comm. Skywarp ignored him and flipped upside down. Left with no other choice, Starscream swooped below him just as Skywarp undid my seatbelt and opened the cockpit. I fell for a little bit before hitting the padded seat in Starscream's cockpit. Starscream was quick to close the glass against the cold air and started berating Skywarp in Cybertronian over the comm. Skywarp didn't seem to care as he corkscrewed off, laughter filtering through the comm. I Couldn't help but laugh as well, and Starscream flew on.

Starscream

We were now seated in Thundercracker and Skywarp's shared quarters. Mackenzie, tired from an exciting day of doing whatever she wanted, leaned against my forearms, which were laying on the table we all sat at. "Thank you guys so much. This was the best day _ever!"_ "It's not over yet. You still have our present to open." I said, using the arm that she wasn't leaning against to snatch the tiny package from my subspace. She happily took the package and tore it open.

"What a pretty bracelet!" She gushed, looking over the silver trinket. It was indeed a bracelet, and it had a Decepticon insignia as the main attraction, processed energon crystals were embedded into the symbol so that the crystals poked through wherever the spaces were. She turned the metal band over in her hands. "What does this mean?" she asked upon seeing the Cybertronian engraving. "Always." I translated. She looked back to it, nodding. "Look here. If you pull out the center crest here, it will activate a homing signal." She gave the crest a quick, hard tug and it came loose. My systems instantly lit up with data concerning her location and the fact that she was in danger. She replaced the crest and the data disappeared. "That's it. Pull that, and we will always come find you. Anytime, anywhere."

She slipped the gadget on and admired the way the crystals glowed. From there, conversation was started and time slipped by.

I looked down when I felt Mackenzie's position against my arm change. She'd slid onto her side, and now was curled on the tabletop, sound asleep. My trinemates and I exchanged farewells and I left to take her back to her room, then go into recharge myself.

I reached her room, having to pull my wings back to fit through the door, and kneeled down at her bed. As I tried to make the transfer from my servo to her bed, Mackenzie stirred and grabbed onto my digit. Half-awake, she attempted to keep hold of my finger even as I tried to gently remover her. I huffed. _This archaic Seeker guardian programming will be the offlining of me._ I mused.

Mackenzie

I woke up for some reason, and I lifted my head up, attempting to figure out where I was. I was in Starscream's quarters, and he was recharging. I was lying on his chest, his hand gently cupped around me.

Sleepily, I laid my head back down against his warm chassis. I heard the whirring of his internal systems, which were deep into their nightly defrag cycle. From somewhere deep in his chassis, I heard a soft _Bom_. And another _Bom, Bom, Bom_, slow, steady, relaxing. It sounded like a heartbeat. I didn't know what was making that noise, but I listened to it until I drifted back to sleep.

(((A/N: If you were wondering who did what for her birthday gift (Or even if you weren't), Skywarp acquired (stole) the materials, Thundercracker processed the energon into crystals, and Starscream did the actual crafting of the bracelet, including the homing device.)))


	11. First Chance

**((A/N: Hey guys, long time no see! Yeah, this is a shortie. I had a huge writers block on this, so I apologize. I wanted to give you something, so I cranked this out. I hope it's acceptable.))**

* * *

><p><span>Mackenzie<span>

"Are sure you're ready?" Starscream asked.

"For the bazillionth time, yes!" I replied. I dunno why he was so worried. I had memorized the route to the meeting room, I had mastered using the weird magnet thingies, and all I had to do was get in position and press a button. Despite my claim, Starscream still tightened the harness over me protectively. I rolled my eyes, looking up through the tinted glass dome of his cockpit. After a moment of pulling at the zippers of the backpack in my lap, I added "You worry too much." He didn't respond.

Soon enough, Starscream touched down. I clambered out of the confines of his cockpit as soon as the canopy opened, backpack in hand. I hopped down off his wing without pause, going into a crouch to absorb the force of the landing. Dust was thrown up by the impact, the tan powder a stark contrast to the midnight black clothing covering me. I knew Starscream had to get out quick, so decided to get out quick as well. I opened the backpack and pulled out a rectangular slab of metal the size of a book. I pressed the button in the center of the slab, and the pipes veining through the silver metal glowed energon pink as the slab unfurled into a hoverboard. It was pretty much a floating skateboard without wheels, but it was a little wider. Slinging the pack onto my back, I deftly leapt atop the board taking off with a "Later, Screamer!" called over my shoulder. I doubt he heard me over the roar of his engines in his departure.

The board was way faster than running, which was its intended purpose. More importantly however, it was way more fun too! I couldn't help but smile, feeling free as I skimmed on air. This was my first time being able to use the gadget outside the test track. Was this how Seekers felt in the air? I was still earthbound though, so maybe not.

All too soon, I reach the Autobots' base. I refold the hoverboard and stash it back in the pack. Out of the pack I produced my magnetic gloves and boots and shoved the appropriate appendages into them. Backpack on again, and I'm scaling the mountainside, looking for the entrance to the vent systems. I gazed around the rocky slope, mentally muttering to myself _It should be somewhere around here, right? … Ah-hah! Found it!_

The vent cover was cut away with a human-scaled energy blade. (Or as I preferred to call it, a tiny lightsaber.) The ventilation system was spacious enough for me to walk in if I hunched over. But that didn't last. At the third turn-off, the vents suddenly got much smaller. This was probably why Ravage was having trouble getting in lately. The vent I was now faced with was barely big enough for me to get in on my belly and army crawl through. Luckily, that's exactly what I'd been training for and I wedged myself in. The magnetic gloves and boots gave me traction on the smooth metal, and while I made my way through the vents, the only sound I heard was the quiet hum the electromagnets created.

As I neared the destination, I deactivated the magnets, lest the hum give me away. The vents here widened slightly, allowing me room to comfortably prop my head on my hands, elbows giving support. So that's exactly what I did as I settled myself over the vent cover, thinking _And now we wait._

* * *

><p>I was jolted from my light doze by noise from below. I snapped to attention and watched the proceedings happening beneath me. The meeting was going on at the opposite end of the room, meaning I could see and hear them just fine but the distance combined with my hiding spot, small size, and lack of an energy signature made me nearly impossible to find. I smirked to myself, feeling like a secret agent. Almost absently, I reached up and activated the choker-like recording device affixed to my neck. <em>Mission is a-go.<em>

However, the excitement of being on a mission drained the longer I stayed there, doing nothing. How did Ravage and Laserbeak do this? It was boring just listening to mechs chatter away, especially since it was all in Cybertronian. But I did it anyway.

Suddenly, it was much less boring. A loud whooshing came from the tubes behind me. I realized too late what was going on, leaving me no time to reactivate my magnetic gloves or boots. Without an anchor, the rush of air swept me away. I bounced painfully (and most likely loudly as well) around in the vent. My bouncing was ended only when I finally smacked into a ventilation grate.

The grate gave way, and I was free falling.


End file.
